Chapter 2: Flowers in May (Mikata)

Until he started to eat dinner, Zhang Songling was in a state of confusion. Peng Weiwei, who has a lively personality, said a lot to him, but he didn't remember all the content. I only remember that most of the time, it was Peng Weiwei who was asking and answering. From where he went to junior high school to how to skip a grade in middle school, and how he was bitten by a snake when he went to dig out bird eggs with a little apprentice in a blacksmith shop, to learning to write big characters with Mr. Chen in a calligraphy and painting shop and refusing to work hard and being slapped by Mr. Chen, all kinds of things, whether glorious or ashamed, were shaken out like beans poured from a bamboo tube.

I don't blame him for his poor concentration. In this era, the folk customs of Shandong Province were far less open than those of Shanghai and Beiping. When Zhang Songling was in elementary school, he had never seen what a girl looked like. When I went to the provincial city to study in middle school, there were finally three girls in the class wearing blue skirts and cloth shoes, but one of them had just finished the first year of high school and married on the orders of their parents. The other two, until graduation, Zhang Songling had talked to them in total of less than 100 sentences, of which more than eighty percent were "Wei Tingting, when will your homework be handed in!" "Zhao Xiaoli, the teacher wants to invite you to his office after school!" It's not nutritious, and it's not worth any memories!

Suddenly meeting such an "outlier" as Peng Weiwei refreshed almost all his understanding of girls of the same age, how could he not feel fresh and interesting?! And for a girl like Peng Weiwei, who grew up in a big city since she was a child, Zhang Songling, who is a little wooden, is not a fresh species? ! The latter is not like his elder brother, who is old and sophisticated, and no matter what he does, he will weigh the gains and losses in his heart for a while; is not like other Peking students in the same industry, they always like to point out the country, and their eyes are above the top. The eyes of this big boy about her age were as clear as a bend in a stream, so that she could see the rocks and small fish at the bottom at a glance. The face is as clean as a blank piece of paper, not dyed with half of the philistine atmosphere, calm, sincere, and reflecting a faint sunshine.

Even if he takes the initiative to show goodwill, Zhang Songling is also extremely different, if his current behavior can be understood as showing favor to girls. Other boys, including Peng Xuewen's college classmates, were afraid that they would not behave perfectly in front of Peng Weiwei. They all picked up their past and present glorious and brilliant experiences. And a famous school like Peking University, if you take out a boy at random, I am afraid that you can be regarded as the leader in his hometown, and everyone's brilliance and brilliance are about the same. Only Zhang Songling, maybe he hasn't learned how to behave in front of girls, and it's all about inconspicuous trivial things, including how he himself used to be ugly.

The two young men share each other's happiness unscrupulously, and of course they can't escape the eyes of the other companions. Soon, Peng Xuewen found the little tail beside his sister, frowned vigilantly, and raised his voice sharply: "Xiao Zhang, I just heard from Shi that you are very good at mathematics, right?!" I know a professor whose surname is Shen, who is quite prestigious both nationally and internationally. If you have a letter of recommendation from the principal of the provincial No. 1 middle school, when the situation settles down, I can take you to visit him in advance! ”

"I, oh, Brother Peng is asking me? I'm just doing mental arithmetic faster! Our family is a small business, and I have been helping my brother read the ledger since I was a child! Zhang Songling didn't hear it at first, and was secretly kicked under the table by Lu Ming, and then came back to his senses, and naturally replied that the donkey's lips were not the horse's mouth.

"Poof!" Tian Renyu didn't finish a sip of tea, sprayed directly from his mouth to the front placket, turned his head, and coughed desperately. Several other members of the Blood Flower Club also couldn't help but smile, looked at Zhang Songling who was full of confusion, and opened their mouths to play a round for him, "He does have a hand in mental arithmetic, within four digits, and he can directly report the results without planning at all." ”

"The principal of National No. 1 High School only sends out 10 letters of recommendation per class. He's the first in his grade, and rightfully so! ”

"WTO accession is also a science! My generation reads, and it is the most taboo to work behind closed doors! Poker face Fang Guoqiang also rarely praised Zhang Songling, although some words did not reach the meaning.

In front of so many people in the Blood Flower Society, of course Peng Xuewen couldn't say directly, "Hey, silly boy, please stay away from my sister!" If you do that, not only will your old friend Zhou Jue not be able to get off the stage, but she will also not be able to get any benefits in front of her sister. But he really couldn't get used to Zhang Songling's cowardice that he couldn't take his eyes off when he saw a woman, so he smiled and continued: "It's good to have a letter of recommendation, it's good to have a letter of recommendation." At Peking University, the top of the mathematics department is difficult to get into. In previous years, out of twenty students, one may not be able to be admitted. Unlike other departments, as long as you don't play too badly on the spot, there is always a glimmer of hope! ”

"I, I haven't figured out which big or which department to apply for!" Zhang Songling originally wanted to confess that he had not yet decided whether to apply for the university in Peking or the Central University in Nanjing. But seeing that the students from Peking at the next table were listening with their ears pricked up, the words came to their mouths, and they cautiously changed their words.

This crooked blow was right, so that Peng Xuewen's pre-prepared attack words lost their targets. The latter was so blocked that his heart was stuffy, his eyes were smoking, and he endured it again and again, and then he smiled and said, "Then you have to work harder." If you choose a subject that you don't like, and don't talk about the pain of reading, it will be easy to learn useless when you graduate in the future. Instead, years of wasted time in vain! ”

"Brother, don't you know it's okay to teach people every day?!" Without waiting for Zhang Songling to speak, Peng Weiwei took the initiative to pick up the conversation. "He follows Brother Shi, what questions can't he ask? It's your turn to be here endlessly?! ”

"I, don't I care about him? He is so young, it is not a bad thing to listen to the experience of people who have come before! Peng Xuewen frowned and explained very aggrievedly.

"Everyone has their own choice, and your experience may not work!" Peng Weiwei didn't know how to save face for her brother at all, so she hit unceremoniously.

Peng Xuewen just wanted to divert Zhang Songling's attention away from his sister. As for whether the experience is useful or not, it is not at all in his area of concern. Seeing that his goal had been achieved, he shook his head and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, if you say it's useless, it's useless." Let's not talk about that today, let's talk about interesting things! Let's have a toast and celebrate that we didn't sleep on the streets today! ”

"!" Thinking about the difficulty of finding a hotel tonight, all the students who went south and north raised their lamps one after another.

The wine is authentic Hengshui Laobaigan, and the taste is very intense. After entering it, it is like a fire, burning from the throat to the navel. After only a glass of wine, Zhang Songling's face immediately turned red into pork liver. Looking at the other companions, they were all red-faced, but none of them refused to admit that the amount of alcohol was not good, so they raised the wine glasses that had been drunk dry, and filled them again with the waitress who was waiting next to them.

"I can't wait to study in a city, but today I can meet each other, what a fate! I propose, for today's encounter, to do another one! Peng Xuewen is very good at communicating, and the reason he put forward for drinking also made it impossible for everyone to refuse.

A group of students from the Blood Flower Society went to Beiping to join the army, and they were determined to die. So the rules that I forced myself to follow in my ordinary life have long been forgotten. Seeing Peng Xuewen and a group of Peking students raising their wine glasses, they were not to be outdone and drank all the wine in the glasses.

"I propose ....."

"Dry ......."

What is the reason for the third glass of wine, Zhang Songling has completely inaudible. I only felt dizzy, my legs were weak, and my stomach and six organs were rolling in my stomach.

Han Qiu sat close to him, and when he saw his flushed face, he understood that he might not have drunk before. Stretched out his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of bamboo shoots for him, and told him very considerately: "Don't drink so fast, eat a few bites of food first." The food here is a little more expensive, but the cook's skills are really good! ”

"Thank you, thank you, Sister Han!" Zhang Songling was a little embarrassed, responded curtly, and began to look for his favorite dishes on the table.

As Han Qiu said, the chefs of the Peace Hotel are indeed first-class. Especially for people like Zhang Songling, who are ordinary and frugal, everything on the table at this moment can be called a delicacy. After a few bites, he temporarily forgot about the discomfort in his stomach, and after picking up a few chopsticks, even Peng Weiwei beside him almost forgot about it.

found that the silly boy was no longer close to his sister, so Peng Xuewen did not take Zhang Songling as a target. He smiled and persuaded everyone to eat a few glasses of wine, and talked about some gossip from all over the world.

Zhou Jue and others also responded with a smile. Soon, the two waves of students became acquainted, pushing cups and changing lamps with each other, and they were dazzled. As they spoke, everyone talked about the price of the hotel, and they couldn't help but scold again, counting the hotel owner to make a fortune. Then he naturally counted down the gate building of the Peace Hotel, and his smile was a little disdainful.

"Speaking of this thing, there is another story!" Peng Xuewen deliberately lowered his voice and said mysteriously.

"What's the story?!" Everyone was tired all day, and after drinking a few more urgent wines, their minds were a little confused, and they couldn't help but ask in a low voice when they heard Peng Xuewen say mysteriously.

"We arrived half a day earlier than you, and we thought this hotel was expensive, so we went out for a walk. Then, I heard about it! Peng Xuewen waved his hand to send the waiter away, and then shook his head with a smile as he spoke, "This hotel was originally not a hotel, but a villa built by a high-ranking official in his hometown!" ”

"Villa?!" Everyone frowned, their faces full of incredulity, "How could the villa be built like this!" ”

"Hey, don't worry, listen to me!" Peng Xuewen tapped the wine cup with chopsticks, and he was overjoyed, "That guy followed Yuan Shikai back then, and he was meritorious from Long, so he was sent to the Ministry of Finance to get oil and water." It happened that Beiyang was preparing to introduce a batch of military equipment from Germany, which needed to be approved by the Ministry of Finance, so he took the opportunity to go to Europe to inspect it. Back and forth, all of them are hotels and restaurants. On a whim, he prepared to build the same tall building in his hometown, and brought the whole family into the building, with one room for each person. The higher rank lives at the top, the lower rank lives at the bottom, and so on......."

"Hahaha, unexpectedly, there is such a person......" Before he could finish speaking, the students laughed, and while laughing, they generally shook their heads slightly.

The people at the bottom will also make sycophants, and immediately invited French designers and German engineers to divide five by two and build the building. After the construction was completed, the whole family was about to move inside, and suddenly heard that the real nobles outside the country lived in the kind of medieval castle villa. This kind of multi-storey hotel, on the contrary, is specially built for people with no identity. The guy felt that he had lost his share, and scolded the people under him for doing things, and demanded that the building be removed as soon as possible and the castle should be rebuilt in place. As a result, before he could start picking, Yuan Shikai died, and the guy couldn't hold the thigh of the new master and was forced to retire. When I came back and saw this small building again, I thought about it, I was idle anyway, so I just opened a hotel. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, it is also a holy place for cultivation. Subsequently, on the side of the Beiyang government, the cabinet changed like a marquee. Every time it is changed, countless people lose their jobs. Everyone had nowhere to relax, and they all ran to Huluyu, guarding the railway and waiting for new opportunities in Beiping. As a result, this hotel became famous by mistake, and many big people lived in it......."

No wonder the mustachioed shopkeeper speaks so bullish! When the students heard this, they all smiled and shrugged their shoulders. The country has fallen into such a situation, and it is not unrelated to the bullying and plundering of the great powers. But the more important problem is still in one's own people. After those meat eaters came to power, they only cared about reaping the benefits of their families, and their knowledge was still very limited. Jokes like this about using a hotel as a villa are just one of the most common and non-threatening of them all. It is even more common for the rest to take scrapped industrial equipment as treasures to buy in China, and to take outdated and backward weapons as advanced technology to move them back.

"So, to change the country, the first thing is not how to strengthen its limbs." Peng Xuewen put away his smile and turned the conversation to the theme he had been planning for a long time. No matter how well developed the limbs are, if the brain is blank, it is just an animal to be slaughtered. Only in the brain, I really absorb the knowledge of the great powers, look at the world from the eyes of the great powers, and govern the country. In order to snow a hundred years of national shame! ”

"Brother Peng's words do have some truth!" A group of students held wine cups, as if they understood whether they understood or not. Only Peng Xuewen's good friend Zhou Jue turned his face to look at him, as if he was thoughtful.

"So, let me say it." With a little bit of alcohol, Peng Xuewen turned his gaze to Zhou Jue, and calmly opposed the latter, "Brother Zhou may not be suitable to take everyone to Beiping at this time." Why don't you go south with us, let's go to Nanjing......"

"What ......." Before he could finish speaking, Fang Guoqiang had already jumped up, stretched out his finger, and poked the tip of Peng Xuewen's nose, "At this moment, the Japanese are blocked outside Beiping City, what do you want us to do in Nanjing?!" ”